Southwest and AirTran Schedule Extension to March 7, 2014

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Just a few weeks ago I posted that Southwest and AirTran had extended their schedule into February. Well just yesterday, this schedule was extended again to March 7, 2014. Up until now you could only book until February 12, 2014, so this now allows you to plan Presidents Day weekend trips, February vacation trips (for those with kids in school that get a February break), and possibly even March vacation if it falls early in the month.

With both airlines, if you book now and the flight price goes down you are able to get a credit.

Southwest: If you pay for your flight, you will receive a voucher for the difference to be used one year from the date the flight was purchased. This voucher is non-transferable. If you booked your flight using points, the difference in points will go back into your account. You can rebook your original flight online to get this voucher/point difference credited – no phone call is needed.

AirTran: For paid flights, you must call AirTran and request a credit for the difference. This voucher will be attached to the frequent fliers account who the ticket was booked for, but is fully transferable to anyone (you must just book through that FF account). The voucher expires one year from the date the flight was purchased.

Additionally, with Southwest, you can fully cancel your reservation for NO penalty (unlike AirTran). Here are the four scenarios on how you will get refunded for your reservation:

Purchasing a ticket with a credit card: If cancelled, you will receive a credit back in the full amount you paid valid for one year from when the ticket was purchased. Unfortunately, these credits are not transferable.

Purchasing a ticket with Southwest credit or a voucher: If cancelled, you will receive a credit back in the full amount you paid, but the expiration date will stick from the original voucher expiration date. This will not extend the date. Again, these credits/vouchers are not transferable.

Purchasing a ticket using points: If cancelled, you will receive the full amount of points used back into your account. The points will go back into the account from which they were pulled from even if they were used on another passenger. There is no fee at all!

Purchasing a ticket using a free ticket: If cancelled, you will receive the free ticket back into your account. This will not extend the expiration date. If the ticket was used for another passenger, it will still go back into the account from where the free ticket was pulled from. There is no fee at all!

You will also receive the full amount of taxes back to your credit card. If you cancel the reservation via the phone, however, many times they will not tell you this and instead give you a credit to be used for future travel for the taxes (ranging from $2.50-$7.50 one way). Make sure to request that the taxes go back to the credit card.

This is great for holiday travel, although prices can still be expensive. And as I mentioned above there is no harm booking with points as those tickets are FULLY REFUNDABLE!

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About Jen

My passion (and obsession!) for travel deals and points started over nine years ago the day I graduated college and took a job in management consulting. I’d spend every Monday through Thursday hotel hoping and embarking on long plane rides just to earn the extra points and miles. Since I was traveling all the time I decided that I was really going to take advantage of the points and miles game... Learn more about Jen »

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